Two garbage collection sites to be closed;

Others to have operation hours reduced

Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.

The Jefferson County Solid Waste Department has come up with a plan to address the problem of illegal dumping and the growing costs to taxpayers as a consequence.

In a presentation before the Jefferson County Commission on Thursday evening, Jan. 21, Solid Waste Department Director Beth Letchworth presented a plan to address the problem that included closing at least two collection sites, establishing limited hours of operation for the remaining ones and imposing fines for violations.

The plan, which the commission approved, entails closing the Mamie Scott Drive and Bassett Dairy Road collection sites; manning the remaining nine sites and setting hours of operation between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. five days a week (with the exception of the main office, which will operate six days, and the Lloyd collection site, which will operate seven days); and expanding the office collection site at 1697 S. Jefferson St., among other changes.

Letchworth cited as the reasons for the closing of the Bassett Dairy site, its lack of electrical power, lack of a compactor pad, its proximity to the Pinckney Hill site and its costly monthly rent.
She cited as the reasons for the elimination of the Mamie Scott Drive site its smallness, which did not allow for placement of a compactor; its proximity to the main office collection site and the one at New Monticello Road; and that it will not require additional equipment to accommodate whatever garbage the site generates.

Another of the planned changes is to add nine roll-off containers at the main office site to allow for the separation of construction and demolition debris (C&D), brush and yard waste, old tires, metal and white goods and bulk materials.

Letchworth noted that C&D, yard waste, metal, white goods and bulk materials weren’t being recycled presently because of contamination, which practice was costing the county $43 per ton for disposal.
She explained that contamination occurs when non-household garbage is mixed with household garbage, which is the only garbage that is supposed to be dumped at the collection sites. It was her argument that if the various waste streams could be separated, it would significantly reduced the county’s disposal costs.

For example, she said, when C&D and bulk materials are disposed separately, they cost $32 per ton instead of $43 per ton being paid now. Likewise for tires, which would cost $110 per ton separated, down from $175 per ton now. And the disposal cost of yard debris would be reduced to zero.
And in the case of metal and white goods, Letchworth said if these items were separated, they would actually bring the county about $60 per ton in income.

She told the commissioners that if approved, she planned to have 50 percent of the plan implemented by March 1, in terms of the expansion of the main office site, closure of the two cited collection sites and staffing and reduced hours at the Nash, New Monticello and Pinckney Hill sites.

Following that, she said the Lloyd site would be brought into compliance late in March, the Wacissa site in April, the Fulford site in May, the Aucilla site in June, and the Lamont site in July.
Letchworth put the cost of manning the sites at $170,560 and the cost of the two compacter leases at $42,240 annually, plus one-time costs of $8,000 for two pad constructions and $4,000 for the required fencing, security cameras and signage.

All told, she put the total cost of implementing her recommendations at $224,800, versus the $400,000 that it’s now costing the county to dispose of the contaminated garbage, an amount that is projected to continue rising at $40,000 annually if the problem is not addressed. Which disposal costs, she said, ultimately translated into higher landfill assessment for residents.

Letchworth said one of the components of the plan was to educate the public about the reasons for the changes and raise general awareness about the importance of not commingling garbage and taking the non-household items to the appropriate locations. Her people, she said, would be at the various collection sites in the coming weeks to distribute handouts and explain the changes to the public.

Other than for Commissioner Chris Tuten, who expressed concerns about the closing of the Dairy Basset Road site, the other commissioners expressed full support for the changes.
Tuten’s concerns centered on the impact that the closing of the heavily used Bassett Dairy site would have on residents accustomed to taking their trash there, and the possible adverse effect that overuse of the Pinckney Hill site might produce.

“We made an agreement with Pinckney that the site would be kept cleaned,” Tuten said. “If it gets overwhelmed (with trash), they may choose to end the contract.”
He also raised the point that a greater number of people used the Basset Dairy Road site than the Pinckney Hill site.

In the end, all of Letchworth’s recommendations, which were voted on separately, received unanimous board approval, except for the closure of the two sites. The vote on this last recommendation was 4-1, with Tuten casting the no vote.

Two weeks earlier, Letchworth had made another presentation to the commission detailing the problem and costs associated with illegal dumping, saying that if the issue wasn’t addressed, it would only grow bigger and more costly.